


A favor for a spider

by sarcasmismyweapon



Series: Equilibrium [4]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Cute, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Friendship, Funny, Gen, Hurt Peter Parker, Hurt/Comfort, Injured Peter Parker, Injury, Irondad, Peter and bucky are friends, Protective Bucky Barnes, Protective Steve Rogers, Protective Tony Stark, Sarcasm, Sassy Peter Parker, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Whump, pre-slash bucky and steve, retired tony stark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-12
Packaged: 2021-04-23 00:42:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22228696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarcasmismyweapon/pseuds/sarcasmismyweapon
Summary: Tony calls in a favor from Steve, having Steve and Bucky come back to talk about it. Bucky and Peter hang out until a not so secret-secret is revealed. The teen's got a lot to explain, but if Tony has his way it'll be the last time that Peter's in danger.Read the main story: Five years too many first!!!
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Peter Parker, James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Pepper Potts, Peter Parker & Steve Rogers, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Equilibrium [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1480244
Comments: 12
Kudos: 222





	A favor for a spider

**Author's Note:**

> A very long one-shot that I had in my story ideas folder, was having a writing day where I didn't know what to write and chose this story. Think it turned out pretty good.

“You think I should warn them?” Peter threw out after a long pause as he stared out the window as the scenery of the city went by in a blur.

“Do you think it would help?” Happy threw back skeptically.

“No,” Peter smirked as he stared out the window. “If anything it’ll make him irritable to know that I sent a warning.”

“Sure you wanna do that to yourself then?”

Peter shook his head, facing forward once more he stared through the partition in the car. Happy was paying attention to the road but from time to time the man would look up into the rearview mirror to meet his gaze. “Well, I don’t think it’ll be as painful as that dump truck was.”

Happy chuckled at the teen bringing up the incident that had nearly given Tony a stroke earlier in the week. “I thought he made it a rule not to speak about that.”

Peter shrugged, that wasn’t strictly true it had been Peter who didn’t want to talk about it but he didn’t tell Happy that. “I think that only counts in the compound.”

“So sure?”

Peter thought it over, it was a gray area really and again it wasn’t as if there was much that Mr. Stark could do to him other than lecture him. “No, but I’m going to stick with it...And as I’ve already told him before, it’s not like I do those things on purpose.”

“I would hope not.” Happy muttered under his breath despite knowing that Peter would hear him.

Peter laughed at the man’s tone of voice. “Happy, come on it wasn’t so bad.”

Happy sent a glower to the rearview mirror. “I only saw the news footage, not whatever your mask showed...It was bad.”

Peter decidedly chose to look out the window rather than at the man’s heated gaze, it hadn’t been a fun day that was sure but it wasn’t as if he hadn’t had similar bad things happen to him...The plane came to mind off the top of his head. Regardless of where it fell on his scale of bad things he’d endured, Peter let the subject drop as the car came to a stop before his school. 

“You going to need a ride back?”

Peter shook his head as he gathered his bag. “No, I’ll get back on my own.”

“Okay kid. Have fun.”

Peter smirked, giving a wave to Happy as he climbed out of the car and shut the door. The car didn’t pull away until Peter was halfway up the stairs to his school, but this was something that Peter had come to know was an ingrained response the man had from being the head of security. Happy needed to make sure that he was actually going into the school and not ditching, though Peter had never ditched school so that was rather pointless. Still, Peter twisted sharply on his heels and gave another wave, seeing Happy shake his head before pulling the car away from the school to return to whatever duties he might have back at the compound.

Chuckling Peter turned back towards the school and nodded. “Just a few hours and then a whole weekend.” He sighed to himself, looking forward to the weekend this time as it meant the opportunity to spend some time with people who weren’t around as much as Peter might have liked them to be. Shrugging his backpack higher on his shoulder, Peter walked into the school just as the warning bell rang. 

*********

“He’s in school, don’t distract him,” Steve remarked coolly though his gentle expression shifted when his warning was ignored by his accomplice. Sighing, Steve muttered. “You’re going to get him in trouble.”

“Kid’s smart, he can avoid them.” Came the succinct reply.

Shaking his head Steve gave up, leaning over in his seat when a response came. Chuckling when Bucky's shoulder checked him in order to read it himself. “Well?”

Bucky hummed. “Kid said that we should blame Happy for something.”

“Happy? What for?”

Bucky shook his head as he typed that very same question to the teen, texting was something that he was still adjusting too mostly because smartphones didn’t register his prosthetic hand which made things rather annoying. Texting single handily took a bit of maneuvering but he was getting the hang of it more and more as he kept in contact with the kid and with Shuri back in Wakanda. Bucky chuckled when Peter replied, giving Steve a smirk. “Said Happy told Stark no the other day and that put him in a bad mood.”

Steve frowned. “How’s that our fault?”

Bucky shrugged. “Probably holding a grudge.”

“Against Happy maybe, but we weren’t there.” Steve pointed out easily before gesturing towards the phone. “Tell him to pay attention to class, we’ll see him this afternoon.”

Bucky huffed, he was quite content to continue chatting with the kid since they still had another hour before they got to wherever it was that Steve had to give some speech. Then he’d have to wait around for him before they could head down to the compound where the kid and Stark were. 

“Bucky, let him pay attention to class, we’ll have all weekend with them.”

“Fine.” The man grumbled as he shot out a quick text, smirking as he did so.

“What are you smirking about? What’d you say?” Steve leaned over to try and figure out whatever it was that had made his friend smile like that. Glaring at the man as Bucky smirked back at him with no remorse.

‘Have to go, being outranked by goody toe shoes.’

“You’re hilarious.”

A chime sounded, they both glanced back down to the phone. Bucky laughed loudly at the kid’s smart retort that had Steve grumbling.

‘I thought you outranked him?’

*********

“Tony, you just have a few more exercises and then you can stop for the rest of the day.” Pepper tried to rally her husband to continue his PT for the day. He was sweating from the exertion of it all, tired, and most of all cranky...A normal PT day when you came right down to it.

“Damn it, this is stupid,” Tony grumbled as he struggled to get his hand to even do what he was telling it to do. The nerve damage was severe, something as simple as holding a cup was strenuous. “Screw this, just get me a damn straw...A long one.”

Pepper rolled her eyes at her husband's demands. “No. Now keep trying.” She dictated back to the man who had slumped back in his bed with a glower to his hand which was being supported in a brace that his physical therapist was using for the day. The man who was orchestrating the whole recovery process was smirking as the couple bickered, patiently waiting to intercede. When it appeared that Tony was done making negative remarks and Pepper had finished fighting against the man’s resistance did the man chime in. “You’re doing great Tony, let’s just do a few more reps and then we can do some shoulder exercises.”

“You’re the devil.” Tony hissed back at the man who Pepper had hired, Greg. “Not ten minutes ago you said we were done after this.” He waved his good hand at the bad one as an example.

“Did I?” Greg frowned. “Pretty sure I didn’t.” The man smirked up at his patient’s wife. “Did you hear me say that?”

Pepper smirked at the mean game the man was playing. “I think I was on the phone during all of that.”

“I hate you both.” Then because he could, Tony glared at the physical therapist. “You’re fired.”

The man sighed, glanced over to Pepper only to chuckle when the woman stated. “If you continue to torture him for the next fifteen minutes I’ll pay you double, he needs it.”

“Pepper!” 

Pepper blew him a kiss as she headed for the door. “I’m going to make sure that Peter got in alright, you finish doing what he tells you!” 

Alone once more with the physical therapist who he’d yet again failed to fire, Tony glared back at the man. “Five.”

Knowing what Tony was talking about, Greg countered. “Ten.”

“Five.”

“Seven.”

Tony wavered. “Five.”

The physical therapist sighed. “Fifteen it is.”

“Five.” Tony quickly interjected.

Nodding Greg smirked. “Five.” He agreed with a nod.

“You’re still fired,” Tony remarked with a grimace as he returned to the exercises under the man’s careful gaze.

“At this rate, she’s going to give me a raise whether or not you finish those just to make sure I come back.”

Tony gave a dry bark of laughter. “Ha, that’s what you think, I’ll have her replace you with some bikini model from Malibu.”

The man sighed, shaking his head at Tony’s baiting. “I don’t think your wife would be on board with that Tony.”

Tony thought about it a moment before shrugging. “Probably not, but I could always convince her to put on a bathing suit for me after I fire you.”

Chuckling, Greg remarked. “So just another eight to go.”

Tony paused, glared and muttered. “We agreed on Five.”

“That was before you said that a bikini-wearing Malibu barbie would be more beneficial to your PT.” The man remarked before placing a hand on his chest. “I mean, I worked hard for this body and you don’t appreciate me.”

Tony laughed at that one but quickly shot back. “Not my type, your boobs aren’t big enough.”

“What?”

Both men glanced to the doorway, Pepper was frowning at the pair of them.

“This isn’t what it looks like...Er, sounds like.” Tony quickly recovered from his error.

Pepper sighed, shook her head, turned around and walked away all the while calling over her shoulder. “I don’t want to know!”

Tony sent a look towards his physical therapist who was grinning like a loon. “Have I told you how much I hate PT?”

“Only four more to go!”

***********

Peter laughed as he flopped on his bed, sighing in relief when he was off his feet as he stared down at his phone where he was once more texting with Bucky who was giving him the play by play of whatever speech Mr. Rogers was giving at some memorial. By the sounds of it, it was very formal and not up Bucky’s alley at all.

“You were in the army too,” Peter spoke out loud before typing the very same thing.

B-Not the same thing...I wasn’t a goody toe shoe like him.

P-Really?

B-Beer and babes.

Peter snorted at the man’s dumbed-down version of what the war was like for him. Somehow he thought that it might be a tad wrong, but he’d leave it to Mr. Rogers to clarify that stuff. The man was great to listen to when it came to learning about history, and Bucky’s insightful remarks made stuff funny. 

P-Sure...So what are you doing there?

B-Contemplating the benefits of going on ice again.

Peter laughed, shaking his head at the man’s dry wit. P-Pretty sure that’d be bad.

B-You’re not listening to this shit.

He supposed that was right, but still. P-You could always listen to some music from your phone.

B-???

Peter smirked, just because Mr. Rogers was adapting well didn’t mean that Bucky had enjoyed similar opportunities to take in new technology...Well, the ones that didn’t involve weapons that is. P-I’ll show you when you get here.

B-Cool. Anything is better than listening to this crap.

P-Does Mr. Rogers know you call his speeches that?

B-Wasn’t talking about Steve’s speech though those are funny as hell, I was talking about the other people’s BS here. And yeah, he knows what I call everything.

There was a small pause where three dots appeared to show that Bucky was still typing, Peter patiently waited to see what the man might have to add to an already hilarious conversation.

B-He gives me that look that says he’s disappointed in you, swear that’s the only thing he got from his dad.

Peter laughed, he didn’t know much about the men’s families but Peter trusted Bucky to tell him such things. Even if half of it might be stretched farther from the truth than was best. 

P-Well, he does give that look a lot.

B-No shit. I see it a hundred times a day...You’d think he’d give it up when it doesn’t work the first hundred times.

Peter snickered as he typed out a response, twisting his head aside as he did when he heard footsteps inside the compound heading in his direction as opposed to the varying places in the large building. Shaking his head, aware that he was more than likely about to be talked to by Pepper, Peter wrote out a quick. 

P-Mr. Rogers sounds as stubborn as Mr. Stark...Someone’s coming down the hall brb.”

B-A mile out lol.

Peter rolled his eyes at the man’s joke at his ability to hear that far away. P- I think it’s Mrs. Potts...Probably about Mr. Stark, he’s in PT at the moment.

B-Not to late to bail out the window kid.

Peter smiled at the man’s suggestion, twisting about as the woman who he’d assumed to be coming to speak to him arrived.

“What’s so funny?” She smiled back at him from the doorway.

“Nothing...Talking with Bucky.

“Ah.” Pepper smiled, it was always nice to hear that Peter was keeping in touch with the man. For whatever reason the pair had hit it off after such the rocky relationship everyone had with the teen when he’d first came back, despite her initial qualms about the man, he’d proven to be good for Peter and at least she knew that Steve would interject if something was outside of her approval. Odd that the pair of them had to babysit each side of the conversation, but that was life. “What’s he say? Are they on their way?”

Peter shook his head. “No, Mr. Rogers giving a speech still and Bucky’s bored.”

“I see.” Pepper chuckled. “So he started texting with you while he’s no doubt on a stage in front of thousands of people.”

Peter paused, frowned, then whipped his head down to his phone where he frantically typed. 

P-Are you on a stage?

...B-Why?

P-Are you with Mr. Rogers right now?

B-Yeah. He’s still spouting off pride in America bullshit.

Peter snickered at that but quickly typed back. P-So you’re on a stage in front of hundreds of people texting to me?

B-And?

Peter groaned, sent Pepper a look, the woman laughed nodding her head when she’d called it. Shaking his head Peter quickly replied. P-That’s rude...People will notice that you’re not paying attention.

...B-I think they knew a while ago kid, I was talking to Sam earlier.

P-On the phone?! Like talking-Talking to him?

B-Yeah?

Peter groaned. “What’s wrong?” Pepper asked in an amused tone.

“He took a phone call while Mr. Rogers was in the middle of his speech.”

Pepper shook her head, that wasn’t surprising to her in the least. She could only thank god that she was only responsible for the disaster of press releases her husband got up to and not the things that Bucky did. Steve had a day ahead of him if he had to make excuses for that. “Well...Maybe state that you need to go.”

“Do you need me for something?” Peter smiled, sitting up on his bed as he was eager to help.

Pepper smiled at the boy’s energy. “Well...You could go try to sweeten up his mood.”

Peter grimaced, earning a chuckle from Pepper in the process. “He threatened to make my web-shooters only shoot silly string the last time I helped.”

Pepper laughed at her husband's threat to the boy’s suit. “Well, at the moment he’s arguing with his therapist about bikini’s.” She sent him a look.

“Alright.” Peter moaned, sliding off of the bed. “But if it’s something I’m not supposed to hear I can’t get grounded for it cause you told me to go in there.”

Pepper smiled at the boy's attempts to avoid being in trouble if he saw or heard anything that he shouldn’t. “I’m sure you can figure out when you should exit a conversation, Peter.”

“That wasn’t a yes,” Peter mumbled as he headed out the door, texting with Bucky as he walked. He saw that Bucky had sent a message while he’d been busy with Pepper.

B-Whats the deal?

Then a minute later.

B-Kid? You there?

Chuckling at the man’s attempts to see if his phone still worked, Peter wrote back. P-Sorry, Mrs. Potts was talking to me...I’m being sent into the PT room.

...B-Damn, harsh...What’d you do to piss her off?

Peter glared down at his phone despite the look not reaching the man. P-Mean.

B-XD.

“He never should have been told about Emojis,” Peter muttered even as he typed back. P-I’ll see you guys when you get here...Maybe don’t take any more phone calls while Mr. Rogers is giving his speech.

B-Eh, he’s used to it.

Peter smiled at the dismissal of his concerns, the teen was sure that Bucky wasn’t wrong there. Mr. Rogers had to have gotten used to the man’s quirks by now. P-I’ll see you in a bit.

B-See ya kid, don’t let Stark bite.

Peter huffed. P-Mean.

B-XD.

Peter tucked his phone in his pocket, making the short trek towards where Mr. Stark’s PT room had been established. He could hear bickering long before he actually got there but tried his best to tune out the conversation given that part of it was cursing and the other part were demands that the physical therapist be fired. In other words, a normal PT day. Taking a deep breath, Peter opened the door and walked in.

“Underoos! Just who I need.” Tony smiled even as he struggled to regain custody of his own arm from the physical therapist. “He’s torturing me, be a good foster kid and claim elder abuse for me.”

Peter sighed, giving a tight smile to the other man. “So...How many left?”

“Traitor!”

*********

Steve rolled his eyes as Bucky made a show of kicking his feet up on the other side of the seats in the fancy town car that they’d been given to head to the compound in. Happy hadn’t come to drive them, but given how far they’d been from the compound that made sense. 

“You done?” He dared to ask.

Bucky hummed, pulling his phone once more out of the interior pocket of his jacket. “Peter stopped texting.”

“Oh?”

The soldier nodded. “Pepper needed him to help Stark.”

“With what?”

“His PT.” Bucky tilted his head to the side with a manic grin on his face.

Steve smirked. “That’s mean Buck.”

The man shrugged. “He said the same thing.” He idly commented as he stared at the darkened screen. “Wasn’t me who threw the kid in there.”

“Maybe not, but you’re making fun of him.” Steve pointed out with an elbow nudge to his friend's side.

Bucky let out a yawn, shrugging himself down in the seats with a smirk shot Steve’s way. “He’ll live. Wake me when we’re there.” Bucky closed his eyes after tucking his phone safely away into his jacket once more. Safe in knowing that Steve would watch his back the assassin allowed himself to relax.

Steve smiled at how at ease Bucky was with him, glancing out the windows Steve wondered what state they’d find Tony in. He’d been enduring physical therapy for months now, the last he’d heard from Shuri the Wakandan’s had done all they could, now it was just therapy. Whatever lasting effects the man had would be lifelong, limitations weren’t something that Steve could ever place beside someone like Tony but that was what they’d all had to do. Thankfully Tony had managed to reach Peter and the teen had stayed with the healing man and his wife rather than going it alone, lord knew the kid had needed someone.

Glancing back towards Bucky, Steve smirked, then again he hadn’t counted on Peter of all people to strike up a friendship with Bucky. Not after the man had knocked the kid senseless, the whole team had been ready to kill the man but Peter had just scowled and muttered how unfair it was. 

Bucky had come a long way as well, sure he’d been recovering in Wakanda the whole time they’d been apart before the ordeal with Thanos...But this was different, his friend hadn’t run off back to Wakanda or further out of Steve's reach. He’d stayed with him, seemingly content to do so with only a bit of snark thrown in along the way. Smiling to himself, Steve reclined in his seat, his gaze shot towards Bucky’s stretched out form. Shrugging Steve threw his legs up onto the other set of seats across from them, smirking as he relaxed for the duration of their drive to the compound. 

Steve was eager to get a chance to talk with Tony about things if nothing more than to check up on the man under some guise of official capacity as Tony had called to tell him there was something important that needed his attention. Tony wouldn’t accept anything less or so he told himself, regardless Steve was more than willing to stick around to help him and Pepper, help Peter if he needed it. Tony was too proud to ask it unless it was life or death, though he reasoned that PT might seem that way now given what he’d heard in the background the few times he’d talked to Pepper. Shaking his head Steve rested his head on the seat and watched the world go by while Bucky slept the whole way there.

*********

“I got it!” Peter shouted as he went tearing off down the hallway regardless of knowing that no one was capable of greeting their guests, Tony’s PT guy had left an hour ago and it was only because he knew that the compound was now locked down appropriately that Peter felt no fear for doing what he was about to do. Running forward down the hallway towards where he heard the main doors opening, Peter slammed the cuff around his wrist and catapulted himself off of the high rise floor, diving off the ledge of the balcony on the top floor in a graceful roll in the air. 

Peter smiled widely, the rush of flying through the air, falling straight towards the earth all while knowing that he had control over the situation made his heart pick up. Peter shot out a single strand of web, flipping as he jerked hard on the cord so he could come to land with only a small bounce to his step as he released the strand and smiled at the two men who were startled by his sudden appearance.

“Wha-” Steve glanced up, the tube system of the elevators went up towards the upper floor of the compound but they were further back in the building, and yet Peter had seemingly jumped right in front of them up at the top, which meant the balcony was on the upper floor. “Peter that’s-

Bucky snorted cutting off Steve. “Show off.”

Peter laughed as he closed the distance between them. “Hey!” Steve hugged the boy even as he still tried to figure out why Peter would do that before allowing Bucky to wrap his prosthetic arm around the kid and pull him in tightly whispering something that saw Peter laughing. Steve shook his head, he’d leave that alone because he was sure that he didn’t want to know.

“Where’s-”

“Upstairs.” Peter pointed directly up, the others followed his finger.

“Suppose we better get the elevator then,” Bucky remarked. “We weren’t planning on scaling a building, let alone jumping off one.”

Peter smirked as he called out. “Friday elevator two please.”

“Elevator inbound.”

Bucky rolled his eyes at the boy choosing to request an elevator for them shoving the teen a bit while reminding him. “We know how to use an elevator kid.”

Peter shook his head when the man mistook what he’d done as some means of being cocky. “New security, it wouldn’t come even if you asked Friday.”

“What happened?” Steve frown formed in an instant.

Peter shrugged his shoulders as he stoutly avoided that conversation. “Mr. Stark will tell you...I’m not allowed in that conversation.” Peter blushed.

Bucky laughed. “You did it.” He pointed at the boy.

Peter stuck out his tongue. “No, I didn’t.” He defended himself. “I just...Sorta fixed it...The hard way.”

“Hard way?” Steve pressed. “How is that?”

Peter made a humming noise before asking. “Hey, Friday where’s that elevator?”

Steve frowned at the teen even as Friday chimed. “Elevator two has arrived.”

“Great!” Peter pointed to the elevator as if they’d forgotten where it was.

Bucky was snickering at how obvious the kid was about wanting to stay out of trouble, intent on picking on him the assassin was surprised when Peter didn’t join them in heading to the elevator. “Kid?”

Peter smirked at them both and with a flick of his hand shot a line of web straight up the building to the ceiling. “See you there.” The kid swung himself up, arching back onto the line of web and scaled it with ease.

“Showoff.”

Steve chuckled as he pulled Bucky into the elevator. “You know he’s just doing that to avoid my questions.”

“No shit...Cunning little shit doesn’t realize he’s gonna run out of ceiling.”

“I’m sure that Tony will tell us whatever happened, Peter seemed to at least recognize that.”

Bucky hummed, waiting impatiently for the elevator to open so he could find out for himself whatever it was the kid had been up to in order to require a new security system. “Think he hacked it?”

“The systems?”

Bucky nodded. “Kid’s smart.”

“He is.” Steve easily agreed. “But I don’t think Peter would do that on purpose...I mean, and cause damage.”

Bucky twisted his head and with a blank stare uttered. “He collides with bridges that don’t move.”

Steve sighed, that kinda knocked down any defense he might give the kid. “Bridges aren’t computers.” He managed.

Bucky shrugged, that much was true but he wouldn’t put anything past the kid. Peter was too smart for his own good, and how he’d looked guilty made the assassin suspect to the boy's motives. He huffed when the moment the doors to the elevator opened he found Peter leaning against the balcony rail.

“Finally.” The boy stated in fake annoyance back at them.

“Peter.” Steve chuckled.

Peter smiled as he walked away from the balcony and waved them to follow. “He just got done with therapy an hour ago, so...Beware.” 

Steve shook his head amused at the boy's warning, chuckling when Bucky remarked coolly.

“What does he bite now?”

Peter laughed, twisting to walk backward. “I don’t know about biting but he’s been making full use of his other arm...Threw some energy cans at his PT guy...After firing him about twenty times.”

“Wow.” Bucky whistled. “This normal?”

“Sadly...Yes.” Peter nodded, not even trying to avoid the truth of what PT days could be like for them. “But don’t worry, I’m sure he’ll be happy to see you guys.”

Bucky pointed to Steve. “Him, not me.”

“He likes you too ya know?”

Bucky snorted back at the teen's optimism but didn’t say anything more about it. The trio made their way around a hallway and further into the compound. Peter paused in the middle of the hallway a moment before they could come to the closed doors of a room. Peter twisted and with a wince uttered softly. “Um...Give them a minute.”

“Them?” Steve prodded.

“Mrs. Potts is lecturing him,” Peter muttered, wincing a moment later when it got mean.

Bucky chuckled. “What's she saying?”

“Buck.” Steve frowned at his friend when he tried to pry into a private conversation, the man shrugged sending the teen a curious look.

Peter let out a long breath of air before twisting about as the door came open. Pepper smiled at them all, her gaze landing on Peter in a calculating manner. She pursed her lips and then uttered. “Do not give in to that.”

Peter laughed, reaching back to rub his head. “Of course not.”

Pepper made an uh-huh noise before smiling at Steve and then Bucky. “So glad to see you two again.” She crossed the space to hug Steve, Bucky going for a simple wave but Pepper wasn’t bothered knowing that the man wasn’t particularly the touchy-feely type.

“Umm...He’s getting impatient.” Peter remarked out of the blue before sighing, he shouted back. “I know I can hear you!”

Pepper sighed, sending a pleading look to Steve. “For the love of God, do not let him convince you about the system upgrade.”

“Alright...What is the-”

“Mr. Stark!” Peter cut him off as the boy prowled into the room leaving the two men alone with Pepper. A moment later they heard the boy exclaim. “Don’t throw that!”

Pepper smiled tightly. “We should have arranged for a weekend off PT.” 

“Noticed.” Bucky retorted with a smirk, grunting when Steve elbowed him sharply.

“I’m sure things will settle down Pepper, it can’t be easy to go through all of this.” Steve sympathized with his friend.

“With Tony nothings ever been easy, but this...This is a whole different level of hard.” Pepper was honest with the men before putting on her brave face and following after Peter.

Bucky sent a look towards Steve, a raised eyebrow that had Steve shrugging. The pair made the short journey into the room to see exactly what was going on.

***********

They found Peter standing with a rather perturbed look on his face next to Tony who was reclined in a chair, the man was smirking as if he’d won some argument against the kid. Tony laughed when Peter continued to give him that pouting expression.

“Face it underoos I win.”

“You do not.” Peter returned, sending Pepper a pleading look even as he explained what was going on. “He’s gonna lock me out of the lab if I don’t show him my project.”

Pepper sent an unimpressed scowl towards her husband. “Really Tony?”

The man shrugged unapologetically. “Kid’s own fault for not sharing.”

Shaking her head, she smiled back at Peter. “I’ll just get you access again.”

“That’s cheating, using my own wife against me,” Tony muttered back at the smiling teen.

“I told you I’d win.” Peter laughed as he had to jump back away from the man as he made to swat at him. When that failed Tony turned and barked out the pair of heroes standing beside his wife.

“One of you come and smack the kid for me for being a smart ass.”

Steve chuckled at Tony’s request when the man refused to leave the reclined chair, shaking his head. “Sounds like he’s being the responsible one.”

“Shows what you know.” Tony sent a hopeful look towards Bucky. “Any takers?”

Bucky snorted, shaking his head. “I hit the kid enough and for better reasons.”

“HEY!” Bucky smirked at the outraged teen. “You do not! I won the last match.”

“No one was there to see it, I think you're delusional...Too many hits to the head.” Bucky retorted with a glance to Steve. “You see anything?”

Steve chuckled at how mirthless his friend was being to the kid. “I’m sure Peter keeps you on your toes.” And then because he felt bad for Peter being ganged up on he promised the teen. “I’ll supervise the next match after I talk to Tony so he can't cheat.”

“YES!” Peter pointed sharply at Bucky. “You’re going down I got new tricks.”

Bucky snorted in reply, unfazed by the boy's cocky words. 

“Alright, underoos, why don’t you go beat him into the ground while I get lectured by these two,” Tony muttered with a dower expression towards his wife.

“Okay.” Peter chipperly replied despite his mentor's pouting. As he twisted to walk backwards towards the others the teen promised. “If you behave I might tell you what’s in the locker.”

Tony glared. “You’re grounded.”

Peter laughed as he twisted about and ran over to Bucky. “Time to leave, he’s getting mean.”

Bucky chuckled as he let the kid grab his wrist and pull him along. Steve gave a nod to Bucky, watching on in amusement as the pair left the room. His gaze turned sharply towards Tony when the previously pouting man cleared his throat.

“So...How was your tour across America?” There was a tilt of amusement in the man’s voice.

Steve sighed, somehow feeling he should have taken Peter’s warning to heart. Tony could be mean when he wanted to be and seeing as they hadn’t seen each other in over a month there was going to be some payback.

“I’ll just leave you two to it.” Pepper smiled, patting Steve’s shoulder on her way out.

Steve couldn’t help but feel abandoned as he told a smirking Tony. “I’m pretty sure that Bucky’s not allowed back into Wisconsin.”

Tony laughed loudly before using his hand to wave Steve into the chair next to his own. “Tell me more.”

Steve smiled as he took the offered seat only to begin regaling the man about how the trip had gone, including the incidents that he and Bucky found themselves in with awkward politicians and how Bucky reacted. At the very least hearing, Tony laugh was a welcomed sight, the bruise to his pride was well worth that.

********

“Alright kid, but I’m not going to play nice,” Bucky stated as they walked into the large training gym that they normally used to spar. 

Peter snorted. “You never play nice.”

Bucky shrugged, not denying that fact. He liked to keep the kid on his toes, make sure that he wasn’t letting his guard down. Now more than ever since the Avengers were spread out over the globe and with Tony out of the picture, Peter was pretty much on his own. Not that Bucky and Steve wouldn’t come back at a moment's notice, but when they’d been away it would have taken them hours to get back...Not fast enough to intervene if Peter had needed them. It left the assassin feeling unsettled, Peter was really the only other person beside Steve that he was close to and the kid had a knack for getting into trouble as Steve did. 

Forcing himself away from those thoughts, Bucky sized the kid up. He wasn’t wearing his suit but he had his web-shooters linked around his wrists. He was bouncing on his heels, normal given the kid's ever-present energy, he was also smiling. It seemed he wasn’t the only one who enjoyed burning off some steam.

“Alright, you ready?”

Peter nodded, his hands tightened, ready to use his web-shooters in a moment’s notice now that Bucky was fingering one of his knives. It was a golden rule that the man didn’t bring any live ammo in the guns that he wore on his hips, rubber bullets still hurt, but it seemed knives were going to be his go-to for the day. That was fine by Peter, far better than being pegged by little round pellets of high-velocity plastic. If Tony had his way even the plastic bullets wouldn’t have been allowed, but Steve had stepped in with the simple retort that the bad guys didn’t have plastic ones and it was best if Peter learned to dodge these ones in a safe environment than the real ones out there. 

Peter jumped, purely instinct when he’d gotten too caught up in his own thoughts. The knife missed, of course, but that didn’t stop Bucky from reprimanding him for not paying attention. From where he was sitting, on the wall, Peter smiled. “Can’t get me up here.”

The smirk on Bucky’s face at the taunt should have been a reminder not to bait the man because rather than chewing the teen out for simply avoiding him, the assassin threw something at the wall. Peter dove away from the surface in an instant, barely missing the electrical charge that arched up its surface when the man’s little toy turned on. Peter rolled as he landed on the floor, back up on his feet only to feel that ever-present warning system in his head. 

Peter ducked, only to grunt when he was kicked sending him stumbling. Peter twisted sharply grabbing the man’s arm before it could strike out at him, smirking as he used his flexibility to jump up, bracing his foot on the man’s opposing shoulder as he catapulted himself over the man, wrenching his arm being him in the same moment that he slammed Bucky to the ground. The man grunted but rolled over to push himself up from his stomach in the next moment. Peter backed up, having released the man in fear of being retaliated against in the close quarters. He’d learned that lesson the last time they sparred.

Bucky gave a nod. “Cute.”

Peter smiled back at the man’s retort before pointing at the wall which was still electrified. “That’s mean.”

Bucky chuckled. “Learned not to stick to one place didn’t you?”

Peter huffed, that much was true but only because Bucky had made a show of it the last time he was here. By the end of their sparring match, there hadn’t been an inch of space on the walls or ceiling that was particularly safe for Peter, thus forcing him into closed quarters with the man. It hadn’t been fun.

Peter’s eyes widened as the bantering they had done came to an abrupt end, his eyes latching onto the not so subtle move of the man’s hand at his side. Peter shot out a line of web, catching the man’s hand and by extension the gun. whipping it away, twisting Bucky with the force of it. Peter ran forward, intent on getting in a hit now that the man was caught off guard only to grunt when Bucky didn’t focus on freeing his trapped hand, rather choosing to use his other one to force his elbow into the kid's ribs and throw him over the top of himself onto the hard mat. 

Peter shook his head, peering up at Bucky with a scowl as the man smirked down at him. Whipping out a hand, Peter grabbed the man’s ankle and pulled, but rather than getting the man on his back as he’d assumed he would Peter ended up getting kicked in the head when Bucky jumped allowing Peter to retain possession of his other ankle in favor of using the jump to free up his balancing leg to kick the kid before hitting the mat himself. Peter grunted again, shaking his head only to grit his teeth when the assassin ended up straddling his back, the vibranium arm wrapped around his throat as the man’s still webbed hand and the gun came to point at his brow.

“Dead.”

Peter huffed. “Rude.”

Bucky snorted even as he continued to hold the kid captive. “You’re the one who didn’t think things through.” He chastised the kid even as he let Peter go, making it to his feet only to use the metal arm to tear his flesh one free of the boys webbing. Peter had climbed to his feet in that amount of time and was pouting, Bucky ignored that as he settled the gun back in its holster. He eyed the kid up when he was done securing the weapon, instead of getting right too things the man asked.

“So what’s Starks problem?”

Peter smirked at the sudden question but quickly threw out. “Which one?”

Bucky smiled in return. “Today.”

Peter sighed. “Bad PT session.” He shrugged.

“That why he call us back? Think we can make a difference there?” He huffed amused.

Peter grimaced a bit, shook his head and slyly remarked. “No...That’s...I think it’s kinda my fault.”

“Kinda?” Bucky retorted in a sassed tone. “What’d you do?”

“What makes you think I did anything wrong?”

“Didn’t say wrong, asked what you did.” Bucky pointed out before physically pointing at the kid. “Cause that’s your guilty look.” He smirked, easily being able to read the kid's posture and mannerisms.

“Fine,” Peter muttered when he was caught. “I got into a fight.” Bucky raised a brow, a silent indication for the kid to continue. Peter looked away from the man’s curious but demanding look. “It involved heavy machinery.”

“Heavy machinery?” Bucky shook his head. “What the hell does that mean?”

Peter grimaced, as he sent a cautious look back at Bucky, the man didn’t appear upset yet which was good but Peter still had to answer the man's question. “A dump truck was involved.”

Bucky laughed at the boy's reserved tone, like a kid who got caught sneaking out of the house. “And?” He pressed.

“And it kinda made the news and Mr. Stark saw...”

Bucky shrugged. “So what? You get into fights all the time.” Because they were both well aware of that, bank robbers weren’t the type to just give in.

Peter hummed a moment, then muttered. “So I might have lied.”

“To me or him?” There was an underlying tone of irritation now.

“Um...Mr. Stark, you’ve only been here an hour.” Peter replied confused. “How could I lie in that amount of time?”

Bucky wasn’t fazed. “How about you quit stalling.”

Peter bunched his shoulders up as Bucky smirked knowingly back at him. “Fine.” He petulantly muttered. “I kinda came back a little roughed up...He asked and I told him something...Not the truth.”

Bucky snorted. “Surprise surprise, what was the big deal? Why not cop up to it?”

Peter shook his head when the man didn’t understand, that was partly his fault he knew. He hadn’t just come out and said what happened, but that was mostly because Peter had some inkling that Bucky wouldn’t approve any more than Tony had. “So...I might have disabled Karen's feed earlier in the day because Mr. Stark kept monitoring everything I was doing...Set it on a loop of me just swinging around town." Bucky laughed at that, he knew the kid was smart but damn if he hadn't gotten one over on the other man. "Then I kinda gotten pinned in a fight.”

“Pinned.” Bucky echoed his statement with a frown. “Pinned how?”

“With a dump truck,” Peter answered with a grimace.

Bucky scowled all at once. “You got pinned by a dump truck?” Peter nodded. “How?!”

Peter whined now that Bucky wasn't on his side anymore, the man was giving him a frustrated look, sadly a lot similar to the one Mr. Stark had to him when he'd assumed the worst Peter had done was hotwire his suit. “It wasn’t on purpose!”

“No shit, I’d hope not.” Bucky threw back at the teen. “What the hell happened?” Peter shrugged. “Answer me.” Bucky retaliated with a deeper scowl.

“It wasn’t bank robbers...If you were wondering.”

“I didn’t think it was.” Bucky retorted mildly.

“Some guy in a rhino costume.”

“A rhino?” Bucky chuckled at random that was. “What the fuck?”

“I know, I didn’t get it either.” Shaking his head Peter informed the older man. “Whatever...Anyway, he’s strong...Like us strong.” Peter waved a hand between the two of them.

“Us strong huh?” Bucky frowned not liking how that sounded. “What happened kid?”

“He kinda used the dump truck as a weapon.”

“Kinda,” Bucky muttered in disbelief. “How?” Peter mimed him picking something up.

“He just lifted it?” Peter nodded. “What he throw it at you?” Because that was startlingly becoming a possibility to Bucky now that it was dawning on him how strong this fucking rhino guy was.

“Well...He did that.” Peter muttered with a smirk. “I think I pissed him off by not getting hit, cause ya know I wasn’t sticking around for that.”

Bucky chuckled. “No shit, not hard to dodge something you see coming when it’s that big.”

“Exactly.” Peter laughed with a happy nod.

“So how’d he manage to get you with it?” Bucky returned curiously.

“Umm...Well, after I tried to web him up he got really pissed off and after throwing a lot of objects at me and missing he picked up the dump truck again and I just figured he was going to lob that at me some more but he didn’t.” Peter shook his head.

“What’d he do with it?”

“He kinda nailed me with it when I swang down to try and make him drop it on himself.” Peter winced, looking to the ceiling when he saw the shift in Bucky’s expression. “Plowed me into a wall...That sucked.”

“He pinned you with a dump truck,” Bucky replied, finally grasping what the kid was getting to all along. “Damn it, kid.” Bucky shook his head.

“Hey, it wasn’t like I was trying to let him do that.” Peter retaliated in a huff.

Ignoring the teen's petulant remark, Bucky got straight to the point. “How’d you get out of it?”

Peter blinked, coughed a bit to hide what he’d said and smiled. Bucky scowled at his fake attempts to avoid speaking about it. “Kid...” 

Peter whined when Bucky wouldn't let things go. “I just did alright?” He really didn’t want to explain this bit...Especially not because Mr. Stark had seen it on the news and he REALLY hadn’t liked it.

“Answer me or you’ll be praying Steve comes down here before I’m through with you.”

“Well, that’s just mean.” Peter pouted.

“Peter!”

Peter winced, Bucky didn’t often use his name more often than not calling him kid which was more a term of endearment than when anyone else did it. “I kinda blacked out...Just for a moment.” He held his hands up to try and delay what he knew was going to be a blow-up of epic proportions. Given the shocked look on Bucky’s face, he wasn’t wrong. “When I woke up he was holding me up by my arm, just laughing cause he thought he had me beat. I webbed him in the face and he dropped me, he was so busy trying to get it off of him that he wasn’t really aware...Cause ya know.” Peter covered his eyes, only to drop his hand a moment later in time to see Bucky nod. “It was pretty easy to use the same dump truck against him after that. He was just blindly charging at me or at least where he thought I was. He crashed into a whole bunch of stuff and then I swung around the dump truck and-” Peter knocked his head with his fist to mirror what he’d done to the guy. “He went down hard.”

Bucky gave a nod, understanding now what exactly had happened, he didn’t like it. Hated it in fact, worse still because neither Steve or him had been aware of what had transpired. “You think that’s why Stark called us here?”

“Well...He’s been pretty mad...But not mad-mad more of that I’m so pissed that I can’t talk about it.”

Bucky snorted, he knew that feeling well because at the moment he was feeling it. “Right.” He nodded. “But you’re okay?”

Peter gave a nod. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“But you weren’t then.” The man concluded easily.

Peter paused, just long enough to have Bucky scowl which prompted the teen to mutter. “I might have broken a few things.”

“A few?” Bucky bit out. “How many and where?”

Peter groaned. “Bucky I’m fine.” He waved at himself. “I mean I just threw you to the mat ten minutes ago.” The teen stated proudly.

Bucky shook his head, not good enough, he wanted to know what had happened. “Tell me or I’ll ask Stark.”

Peter blanched at that. “Don’t do that.”

Bucky smirked, he knew how to call the kid out. “Tell me.”

“Fine.” Peter sourly stated. “I broke a lot of ribs...Like most of them.” Peter winced as he remembered how much that had sucked, especially after he’d started to fight back against the guy. Swinging about with broken ribs was about as bad as it came. “He dislocated my shoulder when he was holding me up, but that’s easy to fix.” Peter reminded Bucky. “And then there was a few other minor things bu-”

Bucky gave a nod, didn’t let the kid continue BSing him and then stated out of the blue. “Computer...Show me the news-”

“DON’T!” Peter ran forward, shaking his hands only to grunt when he found himself suddenly on his back. Bucky scowling down at him in a superior way. “Keep talking or shut up.”

Peter scowled back up at the man, those weren’t good choices. On the one hand, he could just tell Bucky his injuries and hope the man decided not to watch the footage or he could bare the results of Bucky watching the same footage that had seen Tony in a rage for days. “I broke a couple of bones, I’m fine, I heal.”

Bucky snorted, shook his head and wandered away from the kid towards the door to the sparring room. Peter twisted over onto his stomach calling out. “Where are you going?”

Without missing a beat, Bucky replied. “To find Steve and watch the news.”

“SHIT! Bucky wait!” Peter scrambled to his feet, chasing after the assassin. 

********

Tony and Steve had chatted about the man’s tour and how ostentatious that had been, why Steve had felt the need to do that was beyond him but that was just how Steve he was he supposed. “Well, at least you won’t have to deal with Bucky playing candy crush in front of generals anymore.”

Steve chuckled. “Yeah...He’s getting a good grasp on technology...Well, he already had that but-”

“Less the explody boom things and more the stupid pieces of technology that are fun to dink around with?”

Steve smiled. “Yeah.”

Tony was pleased to hear that things were going well for him. Even if he did somewhat resent being trapped at the compound. Despite the world knowing what had happened, Tony hadn’t made any appearances outside, it was just too much. He had scars, visible scars and the way his one arm looked was akin to someone who had been in some kind of bombing. There was no going back to being the pretty boy philanthropist that he used to be, but then again he had a wife and a kid now so didn't that mean he should be an at-home dad? That brought a small smirk to his face, despite the fact that Peter wasn’t theirs by blood he was his kid.

“What’s up?”

Tony shook his head, having gotten caught with a stupid grin on his face. “So...Sure you’re wondering why I called you for this little pow-wow.”

Steve nodded. “Yeah, wasn’t expecting that, not that it wasn’t a good idea. After being out on the road for so long, I think Bucky could appreciate familiar sights and he loves hanging out with Peter.”

Tony snorted. “Those two.” He shook his head, they were quite the pair, an odd friendship but Peter just had that kind of magnetism to himself that he could make even the coldest of people love him. “That’s why I called.”

“Oh? To rent out Bucky?” Steve joked.

Tony laughed. “Yes.” He agreed. “And you to be honest.”

Steve hummed. “What for?”

Tony sighed, all jokes aside it was time to get to the heart of things. “I need a favor.”

Steve nodded. “Anything Tony.” They’d been friends for years, had gone through so much shit. Tony had helped him get Bucky back on his feet...Well after the initial crapshoot that was the accords. Then there had been Thanos.

“I need you to stay nearby, not here if you don’t want but nearby.”

Steve frowned. “Alright...Why?”

“Peter.”

“What about him?”

Tony took a shuddering breath before he managed to admit. “I almost lost him.”

Steve’s eyes widened at the news. “W-What? When? How?” The man scowled when he realized that he had so many questions.

Tony ordinarily might have found it amusing to watch Steve stumble over his own words, but this wasn’t the time for such things. “Some dumbass in a rhino costume.”

“What?” The utter confusion there did manage to make Tony chuckle a bit.

“I know, sounds bizarre but what is the world without a bit of crazy.” Steve nodded. “Peter was out on patrol, some major shit show was going on and Peter, of course, stepped in. The kid didn’t bat an eye about the costume, hell half the time this place is mardi gras.”

Steve smirked at that. “I think a rhino is a bit out of normal Tony.”

“Me too. Point is, he was strong...Like you and Peter strong.” That got a concerned frown on the man’s face and Tony went with it. “The little shit came home beat to hell Steve, lied about it and it wasn’t until me and Pep came across the news that we got to see what really happened. The kid...Damn if I wasn't pissed to hell for lying, but he re-routed his suits cam to show him swinging around town while he was getting the shit kicked outta him. About lost my damn mind, Steve, that asshole trounced that kid into the ground" Tony took a few fast breaths, unable to truly catch his breath before he continued. "He fucking ran him into a wall with a dump truck. Pinned him there and...And he just stopped moving. Peter-He-He just stopped moving and I thought for sure he was dead and then I had to remember that I’d seen him not an hour or two ago nursing himself with some ice packs.” Tony took a shuddering breath, trying to get a grasp on himself. It was tough just talking about it and by the look on Steve’s face the other man was just as shocked as he had been. “Kid woke up, the bastard was just holding him by his arm and laughing.” Tony bit out sharply. “Kid webbed him in the eyes, got the upper hand and knocked the bastard out cold with the same dump truck he’d used against him.”

“Jesus.”

Tony gave a nod. “Peter lied to me about almost dying Steve, I had to get Pepper to go and drag the kid into our bedroom cause I was having a bad day...Damn it I was so damn worried, he came limping in there and I made him dress down cause I had to see. I had too. Pep was in tears, he was black and blue all over, the bad kind Steve. I called Helen right then and there, that bastard crushed his ribs, nearly every damn one and he was walking around the compound like it was any fucking Tuesday. All the other stuff...I just couldn’t I locked down his suit for weeks, called you the next day-”

Steve nodded his head, swiftly intervening. “You want us to stay close cause Peter needs back up.”

“I’m sorry, I know it’s selfish but I just can-”

Steve smiled holding up his hand to prevent the man from saying anything more. “Tony, we love Peter, it’s not selfish not after everything you two have been through. Hell, Peter’s the only one besides me that can get ten words or more from Buck.”

Tony gave a raspy chuckle from that, he’d seen himself how Peter was able to get the surely man to speak up. “I-I just need to know that there’s someone close by that could help. Strange is off to god knows where and I wouldn’t rely on him if I didn’t have to...I can’t count that he’d drop everything to help.”

Steve nodded, he knew that. Strange might have helped been an integral part of their defeating Thanos but he wasn’t all that keen on being intertwined with them. “We’ll stay.” He assured his friend, it was an easy decision as he’d been considering where he and Bucky should settle down. He had so many offers of work, not that he particularly needed it. He and Bucky were squared away with shield, but it would be nice to have a place called home now that the fighting was truly over.

“I-You don’t have to stay long, I’m sure I’ll get over this and all but-”

“Tony, it’s fine, really.” Steve smiled. “Me and Bucky have been talking about settling down someplace, we grew up in New York, this is home to us. And if that means we get to be closer to you and Peter than that’s just a bonus, especially since we can keep an eye on him.” Steve reassured the man. “Does Peter know?”

Tony snorted. “Kid’s been doing everything he can to move on from that, refuses to talk about it. I wasn’t about to tell him that I was calling you and Bucky back here because of it.”

Steve chuckled. “Didn’t think he’d be a fan of that?”

Tony rolled his eyes. “I know ten different ways that kid would have tried to get me to change my mind, none would work mind you but he’d still try.”

“He’s persistent.”

“He’s a little shit,” Tony replied with a smirk.

“He’s taking after you then.” Steve laughed.

“Rude. And here I am offering you a free place to stay, all in favor of some babysitting duties.”

Steve chuckled. “I don’t think Peter would approve of you calling it that.”

“Peter doesn’t get a say in this.” Tony reminded the man coolly. “The fact that he took grounding as easy as he did was far more irritating than it should have been, aren’t kids supposed to hate that shit?”

Steve chuckled at how annoyed Tony sounded for Peter actually being repentant for lying. “I think it sounds like he was trying to say sorry.”

Tony waved his good arm at him, dismissing such a theory. “Nah, had to have ulterior motives.”

“Sure,” Steve said with a smile. Both men startled when the door came open suddenly, Bucky striding in and not a second later Peter who was frantically trying to pull the man back only to end up on the ground again when he grabbed the man’s arm. 

Peter grimaced, even as Bucky smirked down at him. “Stay down kid.”

“Mean.” Peter groaned when Bucky put his foot on his chest to keep him there.

Tony gave a bark of laughter at the poor kid's plight, smirking at Bucky. “Been abusing my kid?”

Bucky shrugged. “He deserved it.”

“MEAN!”

Bucky ignored the teen’s attempts to make him take that back, instead choosing to direct his next comment to Steve. “We have news to watch.”

Steve’s eyes widened at that, so Peter must have told him.

“No, you do not!” Peter squirmed, grabbing the man’s ankle and with a harsh yank pulled Bucky down to the floor in a sudden huff of air leaving the man. Peter got to his feet in the meantime panting a bit. “He’s lying.”

“I already told Steve,” Tony interjected with a smirk.

“Damn it,” Peter muttered.

“Language underoos.” Tony sang. “You’re already in deep shit, don’t make it worse.”

Peter went to interject on his own behalf only to give a sharp cry as his feet were kicked out from under him and he once more found himself on the floor. Bucky smirked back down at him as the other two men chuckled.

“Kid won’t learn,” Bucky informed them.

Tony laughed. “I figure you can teach him a thing or two.”

“So mean.” Peter groaned from the floor.

“Underoos, you listening down there?”

Peter huffed, glaring at Bucky when the assassin gave him a curious look. “Yes.” He muttered in return.

“Good.” Tony supplied with a grin. “Steve and Bucky are hanging around for a while.”

“They ar-You are?” Peter looked at Bucky surprised to hear that. The man shrugged, that was news to him but not all that surprising given what Steve had no doubt heard about the kid. 

“We are.” Steve cut in. “We were going to settle down now that things are quieter, Tony invited us to stay here.”

Peter got to his feet a bit slower this time, a frown on his face as he glanced between all the men. He settled on Tony, giving a sour. “Real smooth.”

Tony arched a brow at the teen who had caught onto his motives. “I’m sorry, was I hearing you wanted to go another month wi-”

Peter sighed, already knowing where that threat was going. “I’m not telling you about the locker.”

Tony was a tad irked about that but pressed forward regardless. “And you now have a full-time trainer.” He waved his hand towards Bucky. “And I’ll even pay him for throwing you on your ass.” He smiled.

Peter huffed, giving Bucky a dower look. “He takes the fun out of things.”

Bucky smirked. “I’d do it for free.”

“Mean.”

“Underoos.”

Peter turned his attention towards Tony once more, not all that surprised to hear the man say. “Things are going to get a lot meaner in a few minutes, might want to take this last shred of freedom for all it’s worth.”

“Huh?”

Instead of clarifying with words to the teen, Tony called out. “Friday, bring up the news.”

“Bye.” Peter twisted sharply and left the room, hearing Tony’s laughter ringing all the way down the hall. As he walked, far far away from the men who he knew were going to be pissed in a minute, Peter muttered. “Friday, make sure locker 22 is completely secure from Mr. Stark. Put it under personal property.”

“It is locked down, access is only granted to the owner, Peter Parker.”

Peter smirked, if Mr. Stark was going to be mean then so was he. Coming into his bedroom, Peter huffed upon flopping down on his bed. “Are they done?”

“The news footage has nearly completed.”

Nodding Peter muttered. “Do they look mad?”

“The current body postures, temperatures, heart rates, and words indicate that there is an increased level of stress.”

“So they’re mad.” Peter summarised.

“Seargent Barnes is displaying an increased level of stress...He is cursing in Romanian...Russian and-”

“Fuck.” Peter got up off of his bed in an instant leaving Friday to continue detailing whatever was going on in the other room, grabbing one of the spare suits that he wisely chose to keep on hand for this very occasion. He’d already opened the window when he heard Friday say.

“Peter, your presence is being requested in the boss's lounge.”

Peter grimaced, he was well aware of what that would mean. “Umm...No.” Realizing how dumb that sounded, Peter muttered. “Um...Right, let Mr. Stark know that I would absolutely love to come in there and...Uh talk about all of that, but I have to go and do something. Like right now...Yeah.” Peter ducked out the window, his mask coming to life as he jumped down from the building’s wall, shooting out a line of web to swing to the nearest light post at the front of the compound. He’d just barely managed to land when his mask went haywire. Peter stumbled, managing to keep his balance thanks to his uncanny ability to stick to things. Crouching low with a frown, Peter gasped when all of the sudden Mr. Stark’s face appeared as if they were in their normal chats, the only difference being that it took over the entire field of his mask’s range of sight.

“I’m gonna give you one chance to get your butt back in here, some people want to talk to you.”

Peter swallowed. “Um...I’m already in to-”

“You’re not even in the parking lot,” Tony smirked.

Peter gave a nod, right GPS. “Right...I’m pretty sure I hear some old lady in need of help.”

Tony laughed. “Nice one...If it wasn’t for the fact we’re nearly fifteen miles out of the city I might believe you kid, even you can’t hear that good. So wanna save face yet kid, cause I can keep going.”

Peter sighed, he truly was beat and he hated that but if there was any way to try and avoid what he knew to be a supremely upset Steve and a very pissed off Bucky then he’d have to take it.

“Mr. Star-AHH!” Peter jolted, losing his balance only to fall ten feet below onto the concrete with a mighty grunt and oof as the breath left him. Groaning Peter looked up when a pair of boots came to rest in front of him, Mr. Starks face was no longer there as his mask rebooted from the sudden influx of voltage. Bucky was glaring down at him, fingering another one of his shocking discs. “Give me a reason.”

Peter groaned, letting his head thunk against the concrete. “So mean.”

Bucky gave a nod, reaching down to throw the kid over his shoulder much to his complaint, Bucky ignored him all the while carting him back indoors. He smirked up at Steve who was up on the balcony of the top floor shaking his head at him all while wearing an amused smirk.

“Told you I’d get him.”

“So mean.” Peter rasped as he stared at the floor while he was being carried on the man’s shoulder.

“Shut it, you’re grounded.”

Peter huffed. “You can’t do that, Mr. Stark already let me off the hook.”

“Yeah, well now you’re back on it.” Bucky retorted simply as he waited for the elevator to arrive. Tony had already signed them into the new security system which also prompted Bucky to ask. “So want to fess up to why there’s a new security system?”

Peter groaned. “I should have run faster.”

“Should have.” Bucky agreed. “But didn’t.” The man smirked as they boarded the elevator, prepared to take the teen back up to the top floor where he and Steve were going to have a very informative talk to the teen. Friday’s voice chimed in out of the blue, Peter canted his head back a bit to listen as if he could stare up at the camera, though he couldn’t.

“Boss would like you to know that he found that very amusing.”

Peter groaned, going slack in the man’s grasp as Bucky chuckled, Stark could be mean.

*********

Peter laughed as he ducked down under the man’s shield only to kick him in the chin before sliding through the man’s legs. Coming out on the other side, Peter easily grasped the man’s shoulders and with an insult to injury flipped him bodily over himself. The solid grunt that left Steve made Peter jump up with a laugh. Steve smirked as he got to his feet, rubbing his chin from the boy's hasty blow, it had been a good move.

“Alright. Again.”

Peter nodded, taking a running start only to be forced to avoid the man’s shield. Managing to grasp the edge of it as he attempted to strike Steve in the side. Peter groaned when he got a knee to the ribs and heavy blow from the shield as it came to crash into his shoulder. Laying on the ground Peter muttered. “I think I did something wrong that time.”

Steve chuckled at the boy's assessment of how he ended up on the ground. “Come on.” Steve held out his hand, the teen took it getting to his feet with a sigh.

“Ready?” Steve questioned the teen.

Peter gave a nod, readying himself once again to take on the man and his shield.

********

Peter groaned, rubbing his hip where the plastic bullet had hit him. Damn if those didn’t sting.

“You’re not dead yet. Didn’t hit the femoral artery.”

Peter looked down at the man from where he was on the ceiling. “How can you tell?”

“Practice.”

That was a tad disturbing, but Peter knew the man’s history now so he figured that Bucky wasn’t wrong. “So...I’m still alive?”

“For now,” Bucky smirked as he aimed his gun.

Peter cursed, quickly dodging the next bullet as it harmlessly thunked against the ceiling where peter had been previously. Peter swung down, twisting in mid-air to avoid another bullet. Rather than dropping to the ground and take a running start at the man Peter simply let the momentum from the web and gravity allow him to plow straight into Bucky. The teen laughed as they came to land, Bucky on his back with a grimace as Peter straddled his chest.

“Ha.” The teen proudly stated with a smile.

Bucky glowered up at the teen. “That wasn’t exactly a smart move.”

Peter caulked his head to the side only to yelp when he was suddenly shot in the back, twisting sharply to see the man’s arm holding a gun. The man’s thumb was on the trigger as he’d flipped it around in order to still use it. Turning to glare at the now smirking assassin Peter pouted. “That stings you know.”

“Better than a real one,” Bucky commented offhandedly. “That would have pierced your lung...Possibly heart given trajectory.”

Peter made a screwed up face at that knowledge. “Fine...So I’m dead.”

“Nah.” Bucky shook his head. “Dying, but not dead.”

Peter huffed as he rolled off of the man. “I think that’s the same thing.”

“Not really...If you’re not dead you can still do something, maybe not live, but something...Shoot back.” Bucky informed the teen.

Peter nodded his head, reaching back to rub at the sore spot the bullet had made. “I think you’d like laser tag.” Peter mused as they sat there.

Bucky frowned at the random change of topic. “What?”

Peter smirked hearing the utter confusion in the man’s tone. “No rubber bullets, just lasers, and vests.”

“Sounds boring.”

Peter shook his head before he explained. “Uh...What’s the little red dot that comes out of guns.”

Bucky sighed at the boy's lack of information. “It’s a sight kid, so you know where the bullet goes.”

“Right.” Peter smiled a bit embarrassed. “Well that’s what laser tag is, but you have to hit a specific spot on the persons vest.” He tapped his own to show. “You get points and if you get someone enough they die or you can capture them...It depends on what kind you’re playing.”

Bucky smirked. “You’ve done this?”

Peter nodded. “Sure, it’s fun.”

The Assassin hummed, reaching onto this calf holster to pull out one of his guns, once more stocked with plastic bullets he handed it to Peter. He knew the kid didn’t like guns, but he figured he’d show the kid something. Peter begrudgingly took it, watching as Bucky reached over and flicked something. A little red light appeared on the man where Peter was holding the gun. “Oh.” Peter watched as the red light on the gun met up with where the muzzle was pointing.

Bucky smirked. “See, same thing.”

Peter smiled, though it was still a bit strained, he didn’t think it would ever be possible for him to like guns. Bucky frowned at how stiff the kid was, sighing he took the gun back and then shot the kid in the thigh. Peter yelped, glaring at the smirking man. “Should have shot me before you gave it back.”

Peter huffed. “I don’t like guns.” Rubbing at his thigh.

“I know kid, but it’s just rubber.” Bucky tried to reassure him.

Peter shook his head, it didn’t matter if it was just fake bullets. Both men turned when they heard Steve call out to them.

“You guys done?”

Peter nodded only to laugh when Steve grunted as he was shot in the chest. Bucky nudging the teen. “Dead.”

Peter laughed again as Steve scowled at his friend. “What was that for?”

“Just showing the kid something.” Bucky lied. “See bullet when straight there.”

Peter smiled. “I saw.”

Sighing Steve motioned for the pair of them to follow along. “Come on, you two can shoot at each other later.”

“I don’t shoot him.” Peter reminded the man, jogging to catch up with him.

“I know Peter.” Steve smiled, grimacing when he was shot once more this time in the back. He twisted to scowl at Bucky who shrugged. 

“It jammed.”

Steve sighed, shook his head and continued forward. Peter glanced back at Bucky who winked. Snickering the teen fell back in line with Bucky. “So...How’s it jam?”

“Bullets discharge, the casing doesn’t fall out-” Bucky starts to educate the kid on it when Peter cuts him off.

“Can a plastic bullet do that?”

Bucky smirked now that he realized why the boy was asking the question. “No.”

Peter snickered. “Does Mr. Rogers know that?”

“Yes.”

“So mean.” Peter laughed.

*********

Bucky and Steve had been gone most of the day, returning in the afternoon to the news of Spider-man getting into some kind of altercation with the Rhino again.

“Fuck.” Bucky cursed. “Why didn’t Stark call us?”

Steve shook his head as they hurried into the compound, getting into the elevator in a hurry for it to take them to the upper floor.

“He should have called.”

“Peter probably didn’t tell him who it was, he might not have been monitoring him at the time...Peter could have hacked his suit again.”

Bucky cursed once more, this time in Russian. Steve just nodded along, well aware of the words coming out of the man’s mouth. The doors opened only for them to still. Peter was walking towards them, from the kitchen down the hall. He paused from where he was holding an ice pack against his head.

“Umm...Hi?” Peter jumped when both men strode towards him in a hurry, Steve taking the ice pack as Peter winced. “Ow.”

“Sorry.” Steve looked at the gash that was being held together by some thin strips of tape so as not to impair the kid's ability to heal himself. Gently handling the ice pack to the teen, Steve told him. “We heard that you fought with the Rhino guy again.”

“Oh.” Peter nodded with a smirk. “Yeah.”

Bucky scowled. “What else did he do?”

Peter smiled back at the defensive man, it was easy to tell that the pair were worried that he’d gotten hurt like he had the first time when they weren’t available to help. “I’m okay.”

“That wasn’t the question.” Bucky barked out.

Peter sighed, smirking a bit when Tony’s voice came over the speakers.

“I thought you went to get an ice pack, what the hell is taking you so long kid I wanna see the replay?”

Peter chuckled, telling the two confused men. “You wanna watch?”

“Wait...Is this a good thing?” Steve asked confused.

Peter hummed, pushing through them to continue towards Tony’s lounge. “It involves a dumpster and a fire hydrant.”

Bucky sighed, prepared to hear how that had gone down he followed after the kid, Steve hot on his heels. “Yeah and?”

Peter twisted about, the ice pack was once more pressed to his forehead. “He doesn’t pick things up as fast as I do.” He covered his eyes again before letting his hand drop with a smirk.

Bucky grinned. “You blinded him again and he fell for it?”

Peter laughed. “Wanna see?”

“Hell ya.” Quickly caught up with the teen, already asking questions about it.

Steve smiled, feeling a bit at ease knowing that Peter wasn’t too badly hurt and was finding humor in how the fight had gone. Still, he needed to be sure. “You’re not hurt, aside from the head I mean.”

Peter shrugged back at him, sighing when both men paused to glare at him. “Fine.” Peter sulked. “If you have to know part of the dumpster thing was on me...I got a nice bruise forming from taking it in the chest.” Then because he knew how they’d take that, Peter assured them. “Nothing’s broken.”

The men sighed. “Just a bruise huh?”

“Straight-line from the lip of it,” Peter informed them. “I’m hoping it will be gone before Mrs. Potts get’s back.”

Bucky snorted. “Good luck.”

“Mean.”

“UNDEROOS I’M STARTING WITHOUT YOU!”

Peter sighed. “He doesn’t need to shout and he knows it.”

Steve chuckled, wrapping an arm around the kid and ushering him forward. “I know, but he finds it amusing.”

“Too amusing,” Peter complained.

“Ah, there you are, oh you brought friends how nice.” Tony snarked. “Come on, I wanna see this.”

Peter laughed, pulling away from Steve to sit on the edge of the arm of Tony’s chair. “Alright, let it play.” By this time Steve and Bucky had already taken their positions in the room just as the video footage began to play.

“Wow...He’s fucking dumb.” 

Everyone smirked at Bucky’s assessment of the criminal who was blindly charging at things as Peter taunted him into crashing into everything he wanted him to. Only taking a few hits for it, one making them cringe as the kid bounced off of said dumpster. The kid was back on his feet rather fast and managed to cause a lot more damage to the man himself than he did to Peter. In the end, the man managing to tire himself out to the point where he could only stumble about. The group chuckled as the rhino grasped a nearby light pole and slid to the ground in a heap. Peter was peering down at him from the top of it.

“See, I did alright.” Peter proclaimed.

Bucky snorted. “Yeah talk when you can say that without your head split open kid.” Peter sulked from that before the assassin added. “Nice move with the fire hydrant...I did that to you a week ago.”

Peter snorted. “Yeah, I know...That’s how I remembered how to do it to him.”

Bucky smiled, pleased to know all the training sessions they’d done had paid off with the kid.

“Good job underoos.” Tony praised the teen. “You get lab privileges back.”

Peter rolled his eyes. “I have lab privileges, Mr. Stark.”

Tony snorted. “Level four.”

Peter’s eyes widened twisting on his perch on the arm of the chair. “Really?!”

Tony smirked. “Sure...You earned it.”

“Awesome!” The teen ran out of the room, calling over his shoulder. “Thanks, Mr. Stark, Friday elevator!”

Tony snorted at the boy's exuberance to explore the lab that he’d been restricted from since the first encounter with the mad man in a rhino costume. Tony sighed. “He abandons me so easily.”

“You’re not shiny.” Bucky retorted, smirking when he got a solid glare for that.

“Go do your job, Barnes.” Tony pointed towards the door. 

Shrugging the assassin rose to follow after Peter, pausing long enough to hear Tony's request. “Don’t let him in the green section alright?”

“It’s in the lab isn’t it?”

Tony sent him a look. “Yeah and it also has radiated isotopes, he’s mutated enough.”

Bucky frowned and made a hasty exit. Tony chuckled, sending an amused look towards Steve once he was sure the man was gone. “It doesn’t.”

Steve shook his head, amused at the man’s horrible lie to get Bucky to keep Peter out of that particular section of the lab. “What’s in there that you don’t want Peter to see?”

Tony smiled. “Just a little experiment...He thinks I dropped the project, I didn’t.” Tony winked.

Steve chuckled. “And that would be?”

“Just trying to make sure no one can see the spider when he doesn’t want to be seen.”

“You’re trying to make him invisible?” Steve frowned. “Is that even possible?”

Tony shrugged. “Don’t know, guess we’ll find out when I’m done.”

Steve hummed. “And until then you don’t want Peter knowing...Because?”

Tony sent him a sharp look. “What happened the last time Peter was curious about something around here?”

“Alright fair point...But I don’t think you’ve got any explosive devices in that section of the lab do you?”

Tony chose not to answer that question, instead choosing to mutter. “How your boy toy had some in his suitcase still confuses me.”

Steve flushed at Tony’s teasings but quickly uttered. “It’s Bucky, he’s always got something up his sleeve.”

“Yeah, well I’d prefer if he keeps the boom-boom stuff to a minimum, I brought you two here to help me keep an eye on Peter, not blow him up.”

Steve smiled. “I’ll make sure Bucky doesn’t have anything else that’s capable of that.”

“Thank you.”

“Boss, Seargent Barnes would like me to tell you that he wants a raise.”

Tony laughed even as Steve cried out. “Why?”

There was a pause before Friday replied. “He states that there is no chance of Peter leaving the lab before midnight given the range of supplies available and that he has already had to bar him from the green section.”

Tony snorted. “His problem not mine, kid’s curfew stands.”

Steve sighed, getting up from the chair as he headed to go and help Bucky. “Bucky will do his best to keep Peter on schedule, but Tony, you did this one.”

Tony shrugged. “Kid deserved it, I mean did you see what he did with that fire hydrant? Gold, pure gold.”

Steve smirked, he’d seen it alright. “Right...Well, I’m going to go help, Buck.”

Tony waved a hand at him as he reclined in his chair, Pepper was due back soon and that would mean more paperwork for Stark industries, he was only thankful he didn’t have to sign shit anymore. As he was relaxing, Tony was interrupted.

“Boss, Captain Rogers would like you to know that the fence to the green area is now electrified.”

Tony laughed. “Well, that’s one way to keep him out.”

  
  



End file.
